Armrest



H. M. HOOD June 4, 1940.

` INVENTOR Har/y 1% fwd BY Mm a. MATTORNEY Patented June 4, 1940 moana maar Harry lid.. Hood, l Chicago, iii., assigner to Featheredge Rubber onrpany, tine., a taorminam tion ofi illinois iippiication February i3, i939, Seriai No. 253,@34 s claims. (ci. 15s-iosa This invention relates to an armrest for automobiles.

In accordance with the present invention, I provide an armrest that can be readily attached It to a door of an automobile so as to lower the cost of assembly if the armrest is included in the original equipment; also the construction of this device permits ready attachment to -an existing door. As an incident to the construction of the 10 armrest, it is so made that it has suiiicient rigid/- ity to give ample support for the elbow but is sufiiciently iiexible so that it will not cause injury if one is thrown against it by a jolt or jar.A

I lThe essential feature of my invention ,is that n imbedded in each end of the armrest body are two metal plates provided.I with keyhole slots preferably arranged on a diagonal angle, and these metal plates are connected together by a core of moderately stift but elastic rubber. Surroundmi ing this core is cushioning material, which preierably is sponge rubber, but other cushioning ma terial such as hair, may be used.

This invention may readily be understood by reference tc the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. i is a longitudinal sectional view, with parts broken away, of an armrest embodying my invention as attached to a fiat surface such as an automobile door; i

Fig. 2 is a View of the attachment face of the armrest removed from the door;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on line 3--3 of Fig. l, and

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 1. a5 In this drawing, the metal locking plates are indicated bythe numeral I and each is formed of a piece of brass or other appropriate metal bent at right angles to form. a face portion I2 and a portion I4 at right angles thereto. The

` o portion I4 may be provided with two openings IB to give better adherence for. the rubber in which it is to ,be embedded, and a lug I8 may be struck 4out of the portion I4 and allowed to continue in the plane of the face portion I2. Each of the face portions I2 has a keyhole opening 20 with the smaller part of the opening extending upwardly and outwardly as shown in Fig. 2.

Both of these metal attachment plates I0 are embedded in solid rubber as indicated at 22, which covers each of the Vplates except for their bottom attachmentfaces and extends across in the general form of a handle as indicated at 24, to connect the two plates together. The rubber compound selected for this purpose is a fairly still one so that the member 24 will have a reasonable degree of rigiditmbut at the same time it is substantially short of being hard rubber, as it is necessary that it be susceptible of some stretching. When curing the rubber 24 in place around the attachment plates, provision is made for an opening behind the keyhole slots as indicated at 2t to receive the heads of attachment bolts or screws. 4

The cushioning effect of the armrest is here providedv b y sponge rubber 2B which is molded and cured around the solid rubber connecting core member 24.

To attach the armrest to the door of the automobile, two bolts or screws as indicated at :it are driven into the door 32. The heads of these at tachment screws Sil are of a size to enter the 35 larger part or" the keyhole slots iiii and their spacing is such that the armrest must be stretched to get the attachment plates over the heads of the screws it'. The natural tension of the rubber will then hold the armrest in locked position, and any added tension, such as that applied by putting weight on the armrest, or by using the armrest as a handle for closing the car door, will simply increase the tension tending to lock these plates on the heads of the attachment screws.

It is understood that the shape of the arm.- rest may be modiiied in many particulars. Also while I prefer to use sponge rubber as a cushioning medium, other cushioning mediums may be employed. Usually the armrest will be covered with some upholstery material, and-where the cushioning element is sponge rubber, this upholstery material may. if desired, be united to the sponge rubber by vulcanization.

I claim:

1. AnA armrest for automobiles and the like, comprising a pair of metal plates each having a keyhole opening, with lthe smaller portion of 4 such opening extending outwardly, means for connecting said plates consisting of relatively rigid but elastic rubber in which said plates are embedded, and cushioning material on said rubber connecting means.

2. An armrest as specified in claim 1 in which the cushioning material is sponge rubber.

HARRY Mi. Hoon. u 

